People

: Ruth Lewellyn (Penniston) Smith; Her family pioneered in Whitewater, Colorado, and she was born and raised in Mesa County. She attended local schools, including Mesa College (now Colorado Mesa University). She married twice, the first time to Perry Richards in Oregon.

: Ruth Lillian (Johnson) Echternach; She was born in Albia, Iowa to Thomas E. Johnson and Margaret M. (Hartsuck) Johnson. Her father was a coal miner and her mother was a homemaker. Her father suffered from asthma, and the family moved to Palisade, Colorado in an attempt to improve his health. They arrived in 1917, when Ruth was 15 years old. She graduated from Palisade High School. She married Marion Julian Echternach in Palisade on September 20, 1920. He was born in Oklahoma and grew up on a fruit farm in Palisade. He was a farmer and an electrician during their marriage. She was a homemaker. She was a member of the CD Chapter of the P.E.O. International, the Palisade Womens Club, and a Gray Lady.

: Ruth Marie Colville; Ruth Marie Colville was a teacher in Del Norte, Colorado. During her life she was heavily involved in the San Luis Valley Historical Society, and wrote extensively on the history of the Valley.

: Ruth Martin; Ruth Martin was an active member of the Sweetwater Home Demonstration Club.

: Ruth Mary (Kilby) Goss; She was born to John S. Kilby and Mary Emily (Smith) Kilby in Little Mackinaw, Illinois. Because her mother was in poor health, Ruth’s family moved to Fruita, Colorado on March 4, 1904, when she was 9. She graduated from the Fruita Union High School and then attended Western State College (now Western Colorado University), where she obtained a teaching certificate in 1915. She taught at the Hunter School in Mesa County from 1915 to 1916 and at the Fruita School in 1917. She married Jacob Charlie Vigo Goss on December 23, 1917 in Fruita. He was a farmer and a ditch rider for the Fruita Land and Canal Company. After their marriage they moved to Loma, where they had four children and farmed on thirty acres. She taught grades 1 through 4 at Valley View School from 1923 to 1926, and 4th grade at the Loma School from 1944 to 1959. She later received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, in 1953. She and her husband moved to Fruita in 1966. She was a member of the Silver Bell Rebekah Lodge No. 115 in Fruita, the National Teachers Association, the Unity of Light Church in Grand Junction, and the Highline Hustlers.

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